Lewis Smith, Times Correspondent, reports on today’s record-breaking ride from London to Manchester on a tilting train.
“Britain’s first high speed tilting train service was launched with typical Branson razzmatazz. The invited guests were sitting under a little awning at Euston station - red, naturally, the colour of the Virgin brand - sipping glasses of champagne and staring at a giant television screen, when the band of the Grenadier Guards arrived.
“They marched five abreast up platform 16, belting out Oranges and Lemons with a parping of trumpets and clattering of drums, then wheeled around and marched down again.
“Fourteen Virgin staff paraded in wearing red coats, holding up the name plates of 14 of the new Pendolino tilting trains. Then a further 53 Virgin staff in red coats made their entry, waving Union flags and smiling broadly - except for a few who looked embarrassed - to symbolise the 53 Pendolinos that will be going into service.
Advertisement
“Red and white confetti rained down, and everyone assumed that the ceremony was over, but then Nicholas Owen, the ITV News presenter, appeared with a red book and presented it to Chris Green, the new chairman of Virgin Trains, and told him: ‘This Is Your Life.’
“After that it was rather a relief to get on board the brand new train called City of London for the attempt to break the record time from Euston to Manchester Piccadilly.
“The journey was uneventful. We were up to 125mph within eight minutes, according to the journey announcements, and the only place where we slowed down at all was at a little place called Ardwick, where one of the signals was yellow, probably because we were ahead of schedule.
“Tommy Farr, 64, who was at the controls, told us that he had driven one of the Advanced Passenger Trains in the 1980s - British Rail’s ill-fated attempt to introduce tilting trains 20 years ago, which was called off for financial reasons - and said that he was very impressed with the Pendolino as it was a lot smoother by comparison.
“It was a trouble-free run. The train started tilting almost immediately, but the effect was quite subtle, like an aircraft banking. There was no stomach lurching and no tea throwing on this tantrum-free journey.
Advertisement
“The view out of the window changed as the train tilted. On one side the embankment began to seem enormously high, while if you had woken from a doze and looked out at the vista of pure sky on the other side you might have decided that you were airborne.
“The ride didn’t have the quality of Rolls Royce, chauffeur-driven smoothness, as the train still rocked from side to side in the usual way. I found myself grasping for the grab handles on the sides of the seats as I walked along the corridor, but didn’t however feel worried that my coffee was about to throw itself into another passenger’s lap.
“As we rolled smoothly to a halt, Virgin staff let us know that we had shaved 14 minutes off the journey record, which previously stood at 2hrs 8mins 3secs, drawing in at 1hr 53mins 52secs. It had been an extraordinary journey, in an ordinary sort of way.
“At one point a steward handed round free sandwiches, and as I bit into the fridge-staled bread, realised it was inedible and tried to find a rubbish bin to stuff it into, I realised that whatever futuristic new trains they may introduce, some things on the railways never change.”